


Foundation

by Nevaeh



Category: Final Fantasy VIII
Genre: F/M, Xu/Selphie, Zell/Quistis - Freeform, about ten years after the game, also minor pairings:, and some a little violent deaths of monsters, includes sex, nothing kinky
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 03:17:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6221422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevaeh/pseuds/Nevaeh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Most memories that came back where unremarkable. But sometimes Quistis remembers something that had been so important to her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [irishais](https://archiveofourown.org/users/irishais/gifts).



> Alright alright, this FF is a special story written for irishais! After I made a whiny post we found out we have to combine our powers as Fanfic writers and … write prompts for each other, haha. So this little story happened. As asked it´s a Seifer/Quistis story, including Xu and with some smut. 
> 
> It´s some kind of love story but be warned for some sexy times, shit talking, people being idiots and some non-straight characters.
> 
> Have fun!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright alright, this FF is a special story written for irishais! After I made a whiny post on Tumblr we found out we have to combine our powers as Fanfic writers and … write prompts for each other, haha. So this little story happened. As asked it´s a Seifer/Quistis story, including Xu and with some smut. 
> 
> It´s some kind of love story but be warned for some sexy times, shit talking, people being idiots and some non-straight characters.
> 
> Have fun!

Quistis woke up with wet eyes. That was new. She absentmindedly rubbed the tears away and got up, pulling a sweatshirt over her pajama top and shuffled out of her room down the hallway. She didn´t knock on the door, she just entered.

 

“Hey Xu, wake up.” Quistis nudged on Xu´s hip until she grunted and shot up a second later. She stared straight ahead, still confused

 

“Xu, it´s me. I had a weird dream.”

 

Xu looked at Quistis, then at the clock next to her bed. “It´s 3.40 AM.” She fell down on the bed again, her back towards Quistis. “I´m not even awake.”

 

Quistis didn´t bother with it and lay down next to her, poking Xu in the sides until she moved to make space. She wrapped her arms around her, comforted by her warmth. “Do you remember when we took the SEED exam?”

 

Xu was quiet for a long time and Quistis felt herself drifting away as well when Xu groggily grumbled something anyway. “That is ten years ago. Haven´t you forgotten it?”

 

“Just remembered.” Quistis wanted to say something else but she fell asleep before she could form the thought.

 

Four hours later she woke up sweaty and breathless and immediately threw the sweater away. Xu turned around, groggy and not any more pleased about the presence in her bed than earlier.

 

“Quis, you can´t come running to me every time you remember some shit from the past. If you wanna stay in my bed you have to fuck me.”

 

“I fell asleep before I could tell you… but I haven´t forgotten it yet.”

 

She slumped back against the wall, enjoying the cool surface against her skin. At least they both had the day off, otherwise Xu would be even more pissed.

 

“What was it about this time?”

 

“SEED exam. You remember it?”

 

“Some. What about it?”

 

Quistis huffed, removing a black hair from her shoulder. “Did we study with Seifer?”

 

Xu sighed dramatically before she rolled over on her back, flopping her arm over her eyes. “We did, it wasn´t your imagination. Is it such a big revelation or what?”

 

Quistis shrugged, removing another hair from the pillow. “It explains why he was so angry at me later.”

 

“Does it? It wasn´t your fault he was a failure…”

 

Quistis picked up another hair, it was still attached to Xu´s head. She slapped Quistis´ hand away, glaring at her.

 

“But we were friends. And I forgot.” Xu looked at her as if she knew what was coming. And of course she was right. “Xu, I know you know where he is. Garden keeps track of dangerous people. Tell me.”

 

“No way. What do you even plan on doing, ‘hey Seifer, remember we were friends when we were fifteen let´s celebrate the good old time, what was that war even about, eh?’ Great idea Quis, I´ll give you his address.”

 

Quistis stared at her. Long. “I bet he´s doing something totally boring. Give me the address. I have so many vacation days left. It´s no big deal. Unofficially.” She poked her, Xu just grunted and tried to slap the hand away. Quistis was persistent. “Come on, he can´t harm me, you know that. I´m too strong. Gimme the address, Xu!”

 

Xu grumbled some more, pulling the sheets over her head. “It´s ten years ago, no one cares about that shit.”

 

“No, I do, Xu!” Quistis attacked her more furiously until Xu kicked her out of bed. It only took two more days of pestering until Quistis could plan her trip to Esthar.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

“This is not fucking helpful!”

 

Xu had given her the GPS coordinates of Seifer´s last known location, but it was somewhere in the middle of the Estharian desert and her phone lost the signal. Sighing, she tried to remember how to navigate without technical help. At least she had a map on her phone, but without road signs it wasn´t all that helpful. Smartphones hadn´t been invented for long, but she realized that life was a freaking nightmare without them.

 

It took her exactly 18 hours and 43 minutes to find the damn hut, after approximately ten wrong turns on the most awful roads on the planet. At least there had been roads, otherwise Quistis would´ve admitted defeat and spent the rest of her holiday on the damn beach! Of course it could be the wrong house. But she was tired, dirty, hadn´t slept much since some goddamn monsters had been banging against her car all night and it hadn´t helped to slaughter a few since there were more than enough to fill the empty spots and there was dust _everywhere_.

 

She stopped the car at the front door of the hut and was immediately greeted with the sound of some angry chocobos. Carefully making sure that the chocobos weren´t running around freely she got out of the car and knocked loudly. The second time she did it even harder, making the door rattle in its hinges. Maybe no one was at home. Well. Desperate times called for some desperate action, and she definitely was desperate for a shower. She would just break in.  When she raised her fist again for the final knock, the door suddenly opened. A very tall, very blond man with a full beard and some ratty T-shirt was staring at her.

 

“Do you want to break my door, bitch?”

 

She slowly sank her arm, still in awe. “Seifer, what happened to you? You look awful.”

 

He eyed her for a few seconds. She almost heard his brain working. “Is that you, Trepe?”

 

She grinned, pressing her hands on  her hips. “Indeed. Do you have a shower in that shack?”

 

He nodded and she shoved him away, desperate to get to the bathroom. Seifer just stared at her. “You´re welcome, Trepe.”

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

There were barely any people living in the area. The next tiny town was almost an hour away. It was definitely some random monster banging on the door. When it didn´t stop, Seifer sighed, got up from his cozy spot on the couch, put his laptop away and checked his junctions. Maybe he could kick it and it would run. Maybe the chocobos would eat it. To his surprise he was greeted by a tall, blond woman with huge blue eyes. When she spoke, he recognized her. Her hair was short and she looked… so much older.

 

And she was using too much of his water. He had been too stunned to stop her from occupying his bathroom and he had a little bit of pity for her situation, driving through the desert was a bitch. But he couldn´t shake the bad feeling, anxious for her to get out of the damn bathroom. He had no idea why she was here. Obviously Garden would keep track of his whereabouts, but they hadn´t contacted him since the trials. Hadn´t sent someone. And no matter how often he went through everything he had done lately, he couldn´t think of a single thing that would make a SEED show up.

 

Five minutes later he couldn´t take it anymore. The chocobos were shrieking since they saw the car, so he went outside and parked it somewhere else. Brought her luggage inside. Tried not to look inside the luggage, afraid what he might find in there.

 

Finally, Quistis came out of the bath, a towel wrapped neatly around her body. “Oh, you brought my stuff in! That means I can stay?”

 

“Did you want to stay?”

 

She gave him a long stare before she started rummaging in her bag for some clean clothes. Didn’t look like combat gear. He let out a breath he hadn´t realized he was holding. A few minutes later she came out of the bath a second time, dressed in a loose shirt and very loose pants with flower print.

 

“Trepe, the years have been bad to you. You´ve became a hippie.” He shook his head, almost laughing.

 

“You look like you´re homeless. Is that why you´re hanging out here? Are those chocobos out there lifestock?”

 

He leaned back on the couch, folding his hands over his stomach. “Why are you here? Someone paid to see me dead?”

 

Her face shifted for a second but she got it in control. Maybe she wondered why he was so relaxed at the prospect of getting killed. She didn´t know he was junctioned of course.

 

“Seifer, do you remember the SEED exam?”

 

He squinted. “What? Which one?”

 

“Ten years ago, the one we did together. I passed.”

 

“Yeah I remember that part.” He paused for a second. “Have you forgotten it? Is that why you´re here? Heard that GFs eat memories or something. You know, you could´ve texted me, would´ve been quicker.”

 

She grinned slightly. “I just remembered. I remembered that we had been friends. Before you were a freaking stupid teenager and decided to hate me forever and before… before I was a stupid teenager as well and was too proud of my accomplishment to consider anything else.”

 

He stared at her, how she bit her lip and looked away, looked at the mess in his living room, the dishes he hadn´t done from the last few days and the mess of magazines and books and CDs thrown around on the floor.

 

“You know, had it been different I wouldn´t have forgotten it.”

 

“We still would´ve tried to kill each other in the war, Trepe. Get over it. Also, it´s your own fault you came all that way just to hear that. I parked your car on the other side of the house, it was making my birds angry. Do you need some water for the way back?”

 

She glared at him and finally walked over to a chair, knocking the dirty laundry down on the floor before she sat down. “I´m not going anywhere. I want to know that you are alright and I took ten days off, so deal with it.”

 

Deal with it… he felt the tension ease away, now that he was sure she wouldn´t assassinate him. “So you´re still a SEED? Haven´t seen an interview with you for a while.”

 

“It´s almost ten years. No one gives a shit anymore. Are you homeless?”

 

He rubbed over his face, over his beard. His hair was grown out. It was now longer than Trepe´s. He could pull off a decent hipster look, what did she know!

 

“I am collecting rare monster parts. Sorry I didn´t dress up for the occasion. I´m not homeless, obviously.”

 

She gave his living room another inspection. “Looks more like you found the hut and decided to stay here for a while.”

 

“Because it´s temporary. Have I mentioned that I hunt monsters? I have to move around for that.” He paused for a second. “You can absolutely not stay here.”

 

“No way. I´m staying. Try to make me leave.”

 

It sounded like a challenge and he could swear she was disappointed when he didn´t immediately grab his gunblade and try to chase her back to her damn car. Trying to force her would only make her more stubborn. One or two days in the desert should be enough to get rid of her with the least hassle. He grabbed his laptop, trying to figure out where he had stopped and ignored her. There were some noises from the kitchen, maybe she did the dishes. That would be great.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Quistis shifted around, unable to find a comfortable position. She had thought she could have the couch, but when it got late and she figured that Seifer would go to sleep anytime soon, he just told her that she can sleep in her car. Or on the floor. Or get the hell out and drive to the next town, it´s just an hour away. Quistis had decided to take the floor, though she wasn´t sure what was worse... the dirty rug she was sleeping on, the way the couch creaked every time Seifer moved, the fridge that started humming every fifteen minutes or the damn monsters that occasionally bumped against the house. When the sun rose a few hours later, the chocobos started screeching as well and Quistis decided that she had suffered enough! She got up and started rummaging in the kitchen, hoping to find something decent to eat. She settled for yoghurt.

 

Seifer got up soon after her. Maybe she wasn´t the only one bothered by the hell birds. When he got out of the bathroom he grabbed a glass of water and sat next to her on the tiny table.

 

“Good morning Trepe. I see you´re still here.“

 

“I intend to stay longer. I wasn´t lying yesterday.“

 

He sipped a bit, eyeing the glass suspiciously. „About that... could you maybe explain to me again why you came all the way to Esthar, to tell me about a dream you had?”

 

“I already told you I remembered we were friends.”

 

He didn´t look as if that information was giving him any more insight into her thought process. Quistis bit her lip. It was obvious for her, so she thought it was obvious for anyone else. But it rather looked as if she had to explain it.

 

“Trepe, last time we saw each other you tried to kill me. I guess you understand that all this is a bit uncomfortable for me? You can shower again before you piss off. Please.” He even smiled. She wanted to punch him.

 

“And you tried to kill me and it is all over and I don´t want to talk about the war, this is not about the war! Not everything is about that damn war!”

 

His smile turned into a grin, but lucky for him he decided not to comment further.

 

“Listen, I never stopped using GF. So I´ll forget a lot and I will continue forgetting and I accept that, but that doesn´t mean that I want to forget relationships I have. Or had.”

 

Seifer scratched his ugly beard, looking in a far corner. “You wanna befriend me so you don´t forget we´ve been friends some time ago?”

 

“Don´t make it sound like it´s stupid!”

 

“Oh no, that would be totally rude, right? Your reasoning is just so... interesting that I still don´t grasp why you actually came to Esthar for it.”

 

Quistis played a bit with her yoghurt. When she looked up again, Seifer was still staring at her, unnervingly calm. “I already forgot some important people in my life and it was pure chance that I remembered them. I don´t want it to happen again.”

 

“And I don´t get a say in that?”

 

Quistis smiled, pushing the yoghurt away. “And that´s why I´m here for ten days! Actually, just seven days, since it took so long to get here and I have to get back to work on time. So, what did you plan on doing today? Hunting some monsters? I´ll go with you if you don´t mind. And can you give me the wi-fi password? I didn´t get any signal on my way here and you were playing around on your computer yesterday, so I guess it works.”

 

Seifer sat very still for a long time. “I don´t have wi-fi. And I won´t give you my laptop.” With that he gulped down his water and went to the kitchen, probably trying to produce something to actually eat.

 

“If I can´t tell Xu I´m okay she´s gonna send a rescue squad. Don´t think you´ll like that.”

 

His head popped up from behind an open closet door, eyes squinting. “I don´t like that Xu knows where to find me. But it also means she knows what I´m doing all the time, so I´d say…” His head disappeared again. “I´m safe. It was your choice coming here, Trepe. You want some eggs?”

 

Huffing, she got up to take a shower.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Despite the popular belief, chocobos were in fact creatures from hell. They were angry killer birds and everyone who voluntarily got near them was definitely a little bit out of their mind. But apparently, cars where good at scaring off low-level monsters and maybe attracting high-level monsters and for reasons unknown to Quistis that was something they did not want. It was blatantly obvious that Seifer hoped she would just get in the car and drive away before she got on a chocobo, but he had also completely underestimated her determination to do what she had decided to do. She had always been good at that. SEED at 15. No way she would shy away from a bird! Though it was a really mean bird, clucking all threateningly while she got up on its back and she was sure it made itself extra uncomfortable while they rode out into the desert. Seifer was sitting on the damn thing as if he hadn´t done anything else in his life, sporting another ugly T-shirt and some even uglier hat and _sandals_. Living far away from people did that to someone. It was good that she was here, helping him regain a piece of his humanity. And fashion sense.

 

“Where exactly are we going?” Quistis tried to keep her sunglasses on her sweat-slick nose. Maybe the hat wasn´t just a prime example for bad taste but of actual use. Quistis made a mental note to get one for her for the next trip.

 

“There are some low-levels I want to look at a bit further north. Came down with the Lunar Cry.”

 

Acknowledging him with silence they rode for another forty minutes.

 

“There they are. Come on, gimme the chocobo.”

 

Quistis slid off the bird very ungracefully, her butt hurting with every move. Fighting would be fun. Riding back would be even more fun. Maybe she should just drive back the next day, when she could walk again. Discreetly rubbing her behind she shot a look at a flat monster, no visible facial features, round body, six legs and some vents on the sides of its body. It was occasionally lowering its body to pick something of the ground, probably had its mouth below. Careful not to get caught in the dry shrubbery around her she walked closer. The way it looked she figured…

 

“Hey Seifer, what kind of magic does this thing use? Status change?”

 

He jogged next to her, unsheathing his gunblade. “Don´t know, I´ve just seen it a few times, but I didn´t bother with it. Wanted to get done with my actual order before satisfying my curiosity. Let´s find out.”

 

“You´ve got a new gunblade.”

 

He looked at it as if he hadn´t even realized it wasn´t Hyperion anymore. “The old one was kinda broken after the war. You know, eight years ago. And I´ve got so many spare items, I can upgrade it as much as I want.”

 

“Hm.” Quistis eyed the gunblade a bit closer, trying to hide her envy. She had tried to upgrade Save the Queen here and there, but it was rather tedious to get items now that she wasn´t travelling the world anymore. She had been willing to buy items instead of collecting them, but even that was a hard task since Seifer´s colleagues either didn´t get the stuff she needed or didn´t want to sell it. Shrugging, she decided that she was better off anyway. Seifer wasn´t junctioned and therefore he couldn´t even use his fancy weapon to its full extent.

 

“Just poke it a bit until it reacts, I´m gonna scan it when it attacks.”

 

Quistis nodded and tried to carefully hit it, slicing a leg off in the process. The monster instantly started casting and Seifer got ready. When he raised his hand to cast the spell it made click. Grabbing her whip a bit tighter she waited until he was done.

 

“So what is it?”

 

“Sleep and sometimes confusion . It´s weak, one hit kill. You wanna… what?”

 

“And how are you still so coherent after getting hit with sleep?”

 

Seifer rolled his eyes dramatically. Had he really thought she would let this slip? That he stole a GF?

 

“How did you get it? That was sloppy, I expected better from you.” With a flick of her wrist the monster was done, sliced in half and bleeding a muddy green into the sand.

 

“And suddenly you don´t want to be friends anymore, eh?” He grinned, but it didn´t reach his eyes. Quistis noticed the tight grip on his weapon and sighed silently. It could´ve been so nice.

 

“You know Seifer, being friends with criminals just takes more effort.”

 

“I found it.”

 

“But I can´t just put aside my duty as… excuse me?”

 

He gestured wildly with his gunblade in her direction. It was making her tense. “I found the GF. You can check, it´s not one of Garden´s.”

 

“How…?” Was that even possible? Drawing GF from monsters, yes, but those weren´t weak and with no junctions whatsoever…

 

“Fought it, won, it´s mine now. I used items. You know, my job.”

 

She stared at him for a second before she cast scan. He was right, it was a GF she didn´t know, strong on magic and junctioning. She almost laughed at that, remembering his stats from teaching days. Not quite his thing, but if it worked… “How the fuck did you manage that?”

 

“Now now, Trepe, I may have fluked my exam a few times but it´s not as if I don’t know how to fight. Right?”

 

Right. Some very unpleasant past encounters were proof of that. Deciding that they were done with the talking, Seifer inspected the corpse, pocketed some stuff and then started slicing off a few pieces. It was incredibly disgusting.

 

“Mind telling me what you are doing?”

 

“What do you think? Feed it to the chocobos, we kinda  need dinner.”

 

Quistis looked back at the birds, deep in thought. “What?”

 

“Oh, have you forgotten? Are the GFs so bad that you actually forgotten some of the boring shit you made us study? ‘An easy test to see if monsters are edible is to feed them to a chocobo. Chocobos only eat meat that doesn´t harm them and humans can eat anything a chocobo eats as well’” He looked at her expectantly, as if she would start reciting text books. If she ever learned that, she had rightfully forgotten about it.

 

“Survival training. Guess you missed that day.” He tossed her a leg. She almost cut off his hand with her whip.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

He knew that she knew how he tried to get rid of her. It annoyed him to no end that that wasn´t enough to make her leave, somehow activating that part of her that just wanted to piss him off. He wondered if Trepe was in therapy and one of her goals was to take her stupid dreams extremely serious and acting out low impulse control, there was no other good reason she actually came to Esthar with that reasoning. He figured that Garden knew where he was, though he had always tried his best to get off their radar. Now more than ever. There was just no way that she really wanted to … hang out with him. Even if she didn´t have any hard feelings left from the war (impossible), completely believing that most of it was Ultimecia´s fault (ridiculous) , ignoring that he had tried his best to ruin her career as a teacher (doubtful) there was simply nothing that connected them.

 

Except for the orphanage. He read about it, how they had saved the world through the power of friendship and how they all felt some kind of personal revelation to find out they used to hang out as five year olds. And that he was the only one missing from their tiny sect of fate praising friendship addicts. He just thought that Trepe of all people would be above it. Besides Leonhart and maybe Dincht she definitely had reason to hate him. Even more than the Trabia girl. It was personal. And here she was, occupying his precious little life, questioning his choices (especially his clothes, but who was the one getting a nasty sunburn?) and disturbing the peace. He found out he liked the peace. He had to tell Raijin asap. It wasn´t all that hard outrunning her for some private time with his laptop, city dweller had pulled a muscle in her butt. And it was so satisfying to watch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fyi… I did some research and I had in mind that sometime during the game it was stated how often Seifer failed the exam but it was just ‘a lot of times’ and I thought maybe some faninfo thingie said how old Xu is but nada, so I made her two years older than Quistis. Considering Garden let 15 year olds fight in wars and 17 year olds teach soldiers I guess Xu´s rank in the game is reasonable for someone who is 20. Also that way they all could take their first exam together for story reasons!
> 
> See you next time!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for some sexy times!

Raijin hadn´t helped much. _Humour her._ Well, she would be gone in a few days, yes, but the way she pestered him rose to frightening levels way too quickly to wait that long. She had woken him in the middle of the night, telling him that his birds were too loud, his fridge was too loud and that he should do something about the protective layer of the house since the tiny monsters attacking it were too loud as well! He threw her some ear plugs and a sleep spell, which then was followed by  a lecture about the inefficiency of sleep spells as sleep aids and that she was better junctioned than that and of course that he was a fucking jerk.

 

They were both extremely grumpy the next day and he gave her his least favourite Chocobo as thanks. Though he noticed with a lot of satisfaction that she was wearing something with long sleeves to cover her nasty sunburn. And a hat.

 

“I see you decided to follow the desert chic.”

 

“Seifer, I swear to god, I´m gonna feed you to your damn birds.”

 

He grinned but decided to leave it at that. He found some tracks he had been looking for and they followed them for another half hour. Trepe didn´t ask him what he was doing and he didn´t want to elaborate anyway. As expected he found a bunch of the circular monsters from the day before, doing what seemed like some social activity. He waved his hand, making Trepe stop her bird.

 

“What are you doing? You gonna kill them? Did they have some rare items?”

 

He eyed her, weighing his options. Somehow, he didn´t want to tell her what he was doing, but then again he took her with him and it´s not as if it did matter. “No, I just want to see what they are doing, scan a few of them, there could be variations in the magic they use.” He waved his hand. “Draw a bit. I´m starting to get low on sleep spells.”

 

Oh, now that was a dirty stare.

 

“I hadn´t expected you to be a wildlife researcher.”

 

Well she hadn´t expected a lot of him anyway. “Only monsters, Trepe. If you´re bored you can go find something to fight.”

 

“No, I´m good.” And surprisingly she was. Besides asking him if he named the new species already she just sat there, watched the monsters and chewed on some protein bar from time to time. Mostly quiet, except for a few remarks what he should write down and snapping a few photos. He was inclined to tell her to just shut up since he knew what he was doing, but decided that the following argument would probably drive the herd away. They followed them the whole afternoon and when they got ready to ride back he almost wanted to admit that it had been nice. Having some company.

 

“Has no one found them already?”

 

Seifer´s head snapped to the side. He had been lost in his thoughts, lulled by the steady rhythm of the bird and his slightly sleep deprived mind. “What?”

 

“The monsters. Has no one discovered them yet? Are they a new species?”

 

Seifer frowned, he needed a second to process the question. “Hn. Haven´t found anything on them.”

 

“Mhm.” Trepe was quiet for a while, though he saw the slight tension in her face. Probably the pain in her butt. “How is that possible? The lunar cry was so long ago, how did no one discover all the monsters yet?”

 

Seifer shrugged. “It´s not really a lively region, eh? And as you should know, Trepe, as long as the monsters stay away and are not useful in any way no one cares.”

 

“Hm. And what do you get out of it? You never seemed the researching kind.”

 

Oh, low blow. He didn´t insult her intelligence! “There has to be something that came down with new magic. I found slight variations, but nothing new. And, you know. Rare items. Good for business.”

 

She eyed him more closely, opening her mouth but deciding against it. Well, she could hardly blame him for thinking of his income. He didn´t have an A-level Seed salary… “Come on Trepe, a bit faster, I wanna get back before it´s dark.” He nudged his Chocobo to run a bit faster, enjoying the little grunts of pain he heard behind him. She deserved it.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

There was something bugging her. It was hard to admit it, feeling like a patronizing bitch, but not wanting to forget a past friendship had just been one reason for her to actually drive to Esthar to visit Seifer. When she saw he was living in the desert, she expected him to be hardly above the poverty line, maybe with an addiction problem and completely devastated from the war. Maybe in need of a strong person who would… _save him_. Not enough that he needed none of that, he was actually doing something meaningful with his time. She had watched him all day and no matter how critical she was looking at it, it seemed like solid research. For fun, nonetheless. She hadn´t seen his name on any papers, which made it even worse. He really only did it for fun. Considering that most of her work consisted of killing monsters it made her incredibly irritated that some amateur did it for _fun._ He had never finished his education after all…

 

Maybe she should drive home and leave it like that. Calm her temper, tell Xu about it, maybe even recruiting him to work for Garden. But then again she should probably stay the remaining five days and find out if he actually… found some new magic. _Slight variations_ , she had found some of them as well, but a new spell? She published a paper then and again about monsters or new uses for magic, a new spell would be better than any of this. They could share the fame. But she wanted her name on it!

 

“You want some as well?”

 

Seifer was outside, roasting some monster ribs over an open fire. She saw a few tiny ones around the fence, already scratching in that horrible sound that had kept her awake.

 

“I ate it yesterday and I´m fine. It´s not poisonous.”

 

She had eaten her fair share of monsters, mostly for new abilities. But barbecue… though it smelled good… groaning, she waved her hand towards the kitchen. “You got some ketchup?”

 

“In the fridge.” She almost heard the grin in his voice.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

“Why aren´t Fujin and Raijin here? Did you break up?” She squeezed some more ketchup over her ribs before she bit into it.

 

“There is something called adulthood, Trepe, where people follow different paths in live. Or is everyone from your gang still in Balamb?”

 

Hm. It made sense. Somehow she just couldn´t picture Seifer without his entourage. Seifer sighed, playing around with the bones on his plate. “Fujin is a guard for hire in southern Trabia. There aren´t that many people there, the rural areas aren´t well protected. And Raijin is a surf instructor in Centra.”

 

Quistis snorted, a few drops of ketchup landing in the fire and sizzling to coal. “A what? In Centra? What?”

 

Seifer laughed, but not really meaning it. “The coastal region is starting to become a new tourist hotspot and they were happy to find someone who can defend them in case of… sea monster attacks.”

 

“Ah. Okay.”

 

“And we´re still friends. Talk regularly.” He eyed her some more. “In case of severe memory loss.”

 

She threw a bone at him, flinging more ketchup into the fire.    

 

“What is your gang doing?” Quistis chewed intensely, giving herself a few seconds to think about what to tell him. He probably didn´t really care all that much anyway. Maybe she should protect some privacy. Maybe… she shrugged, putting her plate down and angling for a napkin. Well, there wasn´t really all that much sensitive info.

 

“Okay, now a lot of things happened that I would never have expected so brace yourself!”

 

He leaned forward, grinning stupidly with his damn beard. “I´m all giddy!”

 

Chuckling, she sat down straighter. She hoped he would be entertained. “When the war was over, I thought everyone would stay at Garden. Balamb, or maybe one of the others. I mean, Irvine wasn´t Seed, or Rinoa, but what did it matter? We all fought together! It didn’t pan out like that. “

 

“I figured. I do occasionally read the news.”

 

“Oh shush, I´m talking. So first of all, Squall quit. Like, a day after. He stayed in Balamb as long as the trials were going, since Rinoa… you know, you were involved as well, somehow. Where have you been anyway?”

 

“Sorting out my life. Continue please, that is more interesting.”

 

“When Rinoa was officially declared innocent and probably not a threat to humankind she went back to Timber and… you know that part. Became the new president after they finally got their independence.” She sighed, loudly. That had been a hassle…

 

“What´s wrong, Trepe? Did you like dictatorship more?”

 

“No, it´s just… it was a lot of work.” He did know the contract, but she wasn´t sure if he knew the part about Timber´s independence. Of course the contract was meant for three Seeds for barely any pay, but after the war it all turned into a full-blown operation. Everyone was glad when that had been over. “So they married and they have two kids! Some war orphans, Squall has a soft spot I guess. I never thought he would be a trophy husband…”

 

“Well, he definitely is photogenic.”

 

She chuckled. That was definitely true. The paparazzi loved him. “He does kill some monsters from time to time. But I guess that´s more a hobby. Anyway, that was the biggest surprise I guess. Selphie and Irvine had a thing, but I´m not sure. Either way they must´ve broken up or something and Irvine went back to Galbadia. He´s in your business area. Have you seen him around?”

 

“Yeah, he´s a reseller. Does weapons as well. Tried to get a discount from me, brought the whole ‘shouldn´t you be guilty for the war’ number. It was fun.”

 

Quistis raised her eyebrow, but didn´t comment further. “Selphie is back in Trabia and working on becoming headmistress. That´s the other thing I hadn´t expected at ALL.”

 

“She had it in her. I don´t remember much about the war but I do remember her clogging me over the head with those damn sticks.”

 

“Yeah.” She huffed, hesitating for a second. She really didn´t want to talk about the war. It would probably not be that rude to ignore his comment…

 

“So that left Zell and me in Garden. And Xu of course, but the spotlight wasn´t so much on her. I think I gave enough interviews for at least ten lifetimes. They wanted heroes and the only ones stupid enough not to flee were us two. I´m glad that’s over.”

 

“Not the one for fame, Trepe? Thought you would enjoy it.”

 

“I enjoy doing my job. That´s not my job.”

 

“And Dincht? He´s still a regular Seed?”

 

Quistis grinned widely, her favourite part of the story. “He´s an instructor now. And I´m the Seed. Look how the tables turn.”

 

“Did you fuck?”  


She eyed him for a few seconds. He wanted to startle her. “Yes.”

 

“And now?”

 

Quistis smiled, wide and toothy. “Are you looking for someone?”

 

“Eh, just curious. Always thought you wouldn´t settle down easily, with all you´ve got.”

 

She huffed. “If it´s just about looks and brains then you got it as well. Is that why you prefer to be a hermit in the wilderness?”

 

“It´s because the beard is so _ugly.”_

 

Quisits laughed, but it was forced. She wasn´t interested in the direction the conversation had taken. At least he hadn´t bugged her about Zell. It was all complicated. It was too complicated to think about and definitely too much for a relaxed evening on the porch. They both went quiet after that, staring into the flames until it became too cold to stay outside.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

The next day they were on the lookout for more new monsters, thought they didn´t find anything. At least they killed a few Toramas, stacking up on items. Day four and five went on just the same, though Trepe started making inquiries about his notes. _What are you doing with them? How many monsters have you found? Any new magic? Can you tell me about the magic? What have you drawn? Can I look?_

Maybe she had wanted to become friends in the beginning, but she definitely found something else to occupy her mind in the meantime. Day six was a Sunday, and he always used Sundays to get some housework done. Trepe was strolling around the house when he hid his laptop, killing some tiny monsters that hadn´t done anything to anyone. Well, at least she fed the Chocobos. On the evening of day six, he finally resigned and let her take a look at his notes on the round monsters. It ended with him wrestling the laptop out of her hands and some heated argument about personal property. He actually would´ve liked to talk about it, but knowing where it would end up made sure that he didn´t want to share anything. Garden didn´t deserve his research!

 

On day seven, Seifer decided to show her something fun. She had behaved after pouting for the whole evening and he would get rid of her afterwards, which lightened his mood immensely. They didn´t even have to ride very far to find an Iron Giant. Seifer hopped off his bird, it was smart enough not to get near dangerous monsters. Trepe did the same, but with less grace. He unsheathed his gunblade, slowly approaching the monster. Trepe followed, her whip ready. Even an Iron Giant wasn’t much of a challenge for someone as overpowered as Trepe, but she didn´t cast any armor-damaging magic, so he guessed she knew that as well. While Trepe was drawing some magic, he let himself get hit a few times, careful that Trepe wasn´t trying to heal him. He wanted to show her something…

 

Another hit and he was ready. He felt the fire rise from his gut to his arms, bursting out in a blinding flame before his gunblade started to shine red and he slashed the Iron Giant a few times in vital spots. It didn´t kill it, but it definitely didn´t feel too good after the assault. Trepe stared at him from some steps away, frowning.

 

“Did you like it?” He barely managed to dodge the next attack, quickly casting some healing magic. Enough of that.

 

“Got a new limit break? Looks better than the old ones.”

 

He smirked, well aware of that. “What about you? I always liked the laser eyes.”

 

She huffed, but couldn´t quite hide a tiny smile. “Not sure if I want to waste aura for that…” Still she cast it. Trepe was engulfed in an orange glow, walking around the monster while she waited until it was ready, snapping her whip a few times. “Oh.”

 

“What´s wrong?”, Seifer asked. The Iron Giant should be dead with a few more blows, there was nothing special about it.

 

“I guess the barbecue had some effect. I´ve got a new limit break.” She stopped walking, performing her incantation while a little white mist started to form around the monster. Looked like a fancy sleep spell. “Well that was disappointing.” Trepe blew away some hair, while the Iron Giant seemed unimpressed. “Just some kind of sleep spell.”

 

Seifer shrugged, making a mental note to list the use of the unknown items he had found with the round monsters. Or the meat, he wasn´t quite sure how it worked. And then she used them, the laser eyes. It was definitely different from casting magic, seeing her eyes turn red, glowing so bright it hurt to look at them until the energy was bursting out, leaving burned marks all over the armor of the monster. It tried to shield itself with its sword, but the attack pierced right through it. There was nothing more beautiful than a limit break that just reeked of raw power.

 

The light stopped and Trepe took a step back, blinking rapidly. Probably trying to get her eyes wet again.

 

“Hey Seifer, I´ve got one that´s way cooler, wanna see?”

 

“Sure. Don´t think that´s possible though”, he said.

 

Trepe grinned, wide and feral, completely unlike he had ever seen her. And it was incredibly hot. He absentmindedly noticed the Iron Giant casting protect, the same time Trepe was charging up her next limit break. The whole ground started to rumble, everything fading to black and the monster being engulfed in a ball of exploding light. He flinched and tried to duck instinctively when the wind whipped over him.

 

When he removed his arm from over his eyes, the Iron Giant lay in pieces splattered in a wide circle while Trepe was standing next to him, smug and proud and absolutely stunning.

 

“Shock pulsar. Impressive, eh?”

 

Yes. Very.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

It had been fun, she had to admit it. Probably not friends yet, but the first step was taken and she was still very determined. Especially since he hadn´t given her _any_ of his research. She had already seen the papers she could publish and the conferences, the fame, better fame, _scientific_ fame and of course Seifer would be recognized as well. She could imagine why he hadn´t published it, but it was such a waste! It´s not as if there weren´t other options.

 

The way back through the desert went a lot easier. She even got back a day too soon, only to find out that Xu was at a meeting with the Head ofs in Galbadia and away for a week. Three days later Quistis got an assignment in the western Centran islands, turning out to take ten days in the worst rain she had ever seen. No cell phone signal either. Only some muddy monsters to beat up and collect items from. They weren´t even all _that_ precious! When she finally got back for good, late in the evening and with no mission for at least another two days she went straight to the showers and then to Xu. It had taken long enough already!

 

“Xuuu, the last week has been the WORST!”

 

There was a shriek and some boobs flying. And two very surprised faces. Quistis stared at Selphie for a while, who stared right back. Sitting on Xu´s lap, naked. Mostly naked. There was still enough boob to be seen.  “I… what… I didn´t expect this.”

 

“Quis, I have told you so often not to just burst into my room!” Xu pushed Selphie off, rubbing over her face afterwards. Well. Awkward. But she was also tired and couldn´t care all that much about it. She went over to the bed while Selphie put on her pajamas, leaving the blanket for Xu. At least she was aware that Quistis wasn´t going to go anywhere. “Come on, move. I just want to lie down. Did you assign me that mission? It was shit. It was the worst. Ten days of RAIN and there was a hailstorm one day, during which I still tried to collect stupid items that no one can tell me we need that desperately!”

 

“Not my fault, I wasn´t even here”, Xu said, staring at the far wall.

 

Selphie went to the tiny kitchen in the next room, grabbing something from the fridge. Quistis immediately used the time to elbow Xu and making inquiring faces to which Xu shrugged and made not your problem I can´t tell you that right now faces. They both looked completely innocent when Selphie came back with some ice cream.

 

“Oh you´ve got ice in your freezer? Or did it move in with someone else?” Quistis asked, her eyebrows raised.

 

“Are you jealous? How cute!” Selphie grinned wide and bright and Quistis decided not to react to that. It was completely ridiculous! “Obviously I´m not staying, I just got a promotion to junior headmaster. We just met at the Heads meeting and I still have some vacation left from last year…” Xu grinned but stopped immediately when she saw Quistis looking at her.

 

“It´s a shame we don´t talk more, Quis! Aren´t you on friendbook? Everyone´s there!”

 

Xu shrugged a little bit. Quistis sighed. “No, I´m not. Afraid of the publicity. But we can catch up tomorrow, are you still here then? I really have to talk to Xu now. You can fuck later.”

 

“Aha.” Selphie put another huge scoop of ice cream into her mouth. Seemingly not inclined to move.

 

Quistis resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Anyway, so Seifer…”

 

“You´ve seen Seifer? How´s he doing, is he rotting in some dirty hole, addicted to meth?” Selphie asked.

 

So she wasn´t the only one thinking that! “Not at all, he´s freelance item trader.” There was the disappointment. They couldn´t really blame him for the war, but at least some resentment was to be allowed.

 

Selphie sighed. “Oh well. Glad that he managed to pull himself together.”

 

“I don´t think he was ever addicted to anything.” Except his ego…  “Anyway, Xu, he is researching new monsters!”

 

Xu turned her head from where she was looking at the wall, pretending to care. “Yeah? Anything interesting?”

 

“I don´t know! We were investigating some weak monster high on stat effects and he let me look at his notes _once_ and nothing else! We need to hire him. There is more.”

 

“Aha. What gives you the impression that anything he does is valuable?” Xu asked.

 

“New magic. He said he already found variations of known spells.”

 

Selphie leaned in, a very serious look on her face. “Did he give you some spells? Do you have proof?”

 

“No, Selphie, that´s why we have to hire him! Garden doesn´t do much monster research besides how to kill them best, you know that! And he said there were so many that came down with the last Lunar Cry that no one knows about since they are in remote locations. I mean I have never heard of that round monster and now I´ve got a new limit break!”

 

“You´ve got a new limit break? What?” Xu was punching her in the arm, quite painfully. “New items?”

 

Quistis squirmed a bit. It was so disgusting… “No… we had barbecue.” It took exactly three seconds for Xu to burst out laughing, so hard she had to slap a hand over her mouth to not wake her neighbor. “This is so good, do you remember when we went to that steakhouse and afterwards you could use that fire spell, that steak wasn´t cow, not at ALL!” She continued laughing, Quistis decided to ignore her.

 

“Was it good?”, Selphie asked.

 

“Okay, I guess. Xu, get a grip, can we hire him or not?”

 

Xu took a few deep breaths until she settled down again. Still red. “Of course not. Try to bribe him. Get me something substantial. Do NOT offer employment! Or you can move to the Centran rainforests, okay?” She eyed Quistis a second. “And, did your initial agenda work? Are you friends now?”

 

Quistis was slightly irritated by the change of subject so shortly after getting threatened. “Ehm, I think we are getting there. Not sure if he remembered.” She shrugged, looking at the blanket. She eyes Selphie´s knee, contemplating. “I might have ruined my efforts a bit.”

 

“What? How? Did you try to steal his notes?” Xu laughed loudly, and Quistis was glad that her reputation was obviously still good.

 

“Of course not! He´s a pain in the ass but I´m not that mean!”

 

“Compared to what? Did you break his heart?” Selphie obviously joked, but when Quistis couldn´t quite hide her guilty face, Selphie´s eyes went big. “You did?”

 

“We just fucked before I left, it´s not that bad.”

 

Xu almost died of laughter, while Selphie was staring at Quistis with a weirdly stony face. Completely unlike her.

 

“There was some unresolved sexual tension between the two of you from back when you were fifteen, guess it was bound to happen someday!” Xu still giggled, her face red.

 

“Yeah, whatever. How much do you even remember?” With that, Quistis stomped back to her room, not wanting to discuss the matter any further. It was already embarrassing enough.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

 There was something like getting high on power. Seifer was absolutely aware of that. Even if his memory was sometimes blurry of his time as a sorceress knight, he still knew what it felt like, the rush of adrenaline and the feeling of being invincible and the fact that it was just as easy to admire it in other people. Trepe definitely knew as well. They didn´t stay out for long, killing a few more Toramas and a Behemoth before riding back to the tiny house. He noticed how Trepe was watching him putting his birds away, a gleam in her eyes. Not a residue from her magic but something else entirely. Something he wanted to know more of, something that was frightening him a bit. Only a bit.

 

He had barely entered the house when she grabbed his arm, turning him around, her face inches away from his, eyeing his lips. She was on her tiptoes. Somehow he found it extremely endearing.

 

“Do you… want to fuck?”

 

He grinned. It sounded so dirty from her lips. “Yeah.” She basically threw herself against him, their heads colliding so forcefully he felt his teeth ache. It was just a short pain, the feeling of a tongue against his lips made him forget it immediately. Trepe had always been so stuck up, he had expected her to be the same in every situation, but this was something else. She moved back, licking over her lips and slowly getting down on her feet.

 

“That ratty beard is really awful.”

 

“Enough to make you stop?”

 

“Nah.” She pulled her shirt over her head, revealing a sports bra. Not really sexy. And an awful sunburn, dark red, raw skin. Healing magic doesn´t work well on skin problems…

 

“That looks bad. You should remove your bra.”

 

She grinned, but obliged. Very slowly. Flinching only once. And there they were, two perfect breasts, completely hidden by that hideous hippie shit she was always wearing. He touched them, slowly. They were slightly bigger than his hands, and so warm.

 

“I´m completely sweaty and dusty. I could shower first.”

 

He looked up but didn´t move his hands. “It´s fine. For me.” He grinned while her hands started fumbling on his zipper. Looked fine for her as well.

 

“You are so insanely beautiful.” And she was, when she suddenly blushed and looked away, focusing on his zipper more than necessary. No matter how annoying she had been, he had never doubted how sexy she was. But standing in his little house, roughed up from the desert, her short blond hair already lighter from the sun, she wasn´t sexy at all. She was just… beautiful.

 

“Stop that, I just want sex.”

 

“I can still appreciate you, right?” It stung a bit, but he ignored it. She was right, it was just sex. When she finally got his zipper open she sighed out of relief and started pushing his pants down. Seifer got rid of his shirt, feeling his boxers slipping down his legs. He wondered if she would suck him. She did hesitate a second before she got up again, her hands rubbing upwards from his hips, over his toned stomach, his pecs, grazing his nipples, stopping at his neck.

 

“You are so damn big. And hairy.”

 

“But you like it.”

 

“Eh. Haven´t decided yet.” She kissed him again, almost jumping on him. Seifer took it as a hint to pick her up and move over to the couch. It wasn´t all that easy, he was big but she was still heavy and he was highly distracted by what she did with his mouth. He was almost there when he stumbled over the carpet, falling down with Trepe landing on his chest. He coughed, trying to get some air back again in his lungs.

 

“Don´t be such a baby.” She sucked on his neck, trying to leave marks.

 

“Can´t help that you´re so heavy.” Trepe smiled against his skin, her teeth grazing his collar bone. He felt her nipples on his stomach, her breasts soft and big.

 

“It´s all muscle. Do you have some condoms?”

 

He started tugging on her pants, seeing the cute frilly underwear underneath it. It was rosé. “Ehm, yes, somewhere.” Seifer tried to get up, but Trepe was pinning him down, her strong legs not moving an inch. A lot of muscle.

 

“I have some in my luggage. Wait a second.”

 

“Didn´t you come here for friendship?”

 

“It was for the travel!” He didn´t question that, content with watching the sly movement of her back while she searched in one of her bags. She wasn´t very buff, whips weren´t the kind of weapon that caused it, but she was still lean and toned and very nice to look at. “Here it is.”

 

She hurried back, kicking her pants off on the way. Obviously foreplay wasn´t high on her list, she just ripped the condom open and slipped it on his dick. The friction was very nice. Watching her hands working on him was even nicer.

 

“At least you´re big everywhere.”

 

“ _At least._ ” He laughed but stopped when she slipped her girly panties down, guiding his dick and sitting down on it in one swift motion. She grunted and grabbed his shoulders, digging her nails in hard. It looked more like workout than fun. He placed his hands on her hips but didn´t dare to move, suspecting that she wanted to dictate the pace. The second she started moving he knew he was right. Quick hard thrusts, he felt her butt slam against his balls. She finally leaned forward and he wrapped his arms around her, pressing her against him. It was so hot and they were so dirty, but it felt so good, not just the sensation he got from her movement but the feeling of a warm body against him, of warm skin, of…

 

Trepe looked up suddenly and then he heard it as well, some monster was running against the wall again. He ignored it, but Trepe obviously couldn´t. He saw her eyes starting to glow and his pulse speeding up. She wouldn´t…

 

“Those damn…” Without further warning she got up, all naked and stormed out of the house. Seifer ran over to the window, he had to watch that. And there it was, a perfect limit break, eradicating the two monsters until only pieces were left. Her eyes were still glowing faintly when she got back. It was a bit frightening, especially when she grabbed him and basically pushed him to the ground, but it also made his blood run faster and his dick harder than anything had in a long time. Trepe didn´t hold back, pounding into him as if her life depended on it, her face aggressive. Seifer didn´t move much, only holding onto her, only reacting to her, only… enjoying. He came embarrassingly fast.

 

When Trepe finished, she lay down against him, her fingers playing with his chest hair. She sighed contentedly, rubbing her cheek against him. A few seconds later she got up and walked to the bathroom.

 

“I´ll be leaving tomorrow. You have a roadmap?”

 

He had hoped she would stay a little longer.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Selphie is mean and Quistis doesn´t like it.

"Heeeey Quistie!”

 

Quistis waved reluctantly, trying not to draw the attention on them. Most students weren´t excited anymore to see the heroes of the sorceress war, but two heroes… that was something else. As promised, Quistis met Selphie for a lunch date. Or better, Selphie decided to occupy her during her break.

 

“Hey Selphie. Thought you wouldn´t want to meet in public. With, ehm, yesterday´s events.”

 

Selphie grinned at her, wide and bright. “No beating around the bush, eh? Everything´s fine, our superior´s know, no one cares.”

 

“Ah? But… confidentiality? I mean, I won´t call you out, don´t worry.” She had pestered Xu all morning. Quistis understood Xu´s need for privacy, but now that she knew anyway she wanted to know all the details! And she had gotten them eventually. They had hooked up during an all Garden meeting, decided that they liked it enough to occasionally spend time together and that was it. Quistis sensed that there was more to it, but since Xu was so fidgety, she hadn´t wanted to annoy her too much. Though it did surprise her that Xu showed an interest in Selphie, of all people.

 

Selphie shrugged and waved it away. “That´s why we talked to our superiors and signed a non-disclosure agreement.”

 

 _Must´ve been some amazing sex._ Quistis decided to keep her thoughts to herself and just smiled. They chatted a bit about their jobs and what was going on their nerves the most, since personal life was a bit touchy at the moment, until Zell showed up. Quistis hadn´t expected him and tensed up as she saw who Selphie was waving at. She should´ve known. Mini reunion.

 

Zell smiled at Selphie, and then gave Quistis _the look_. The one she hated from the depth of her heart. The one with the big, soft eyes, pleading her to see how much he loves her, how much he wants her back and how he would do anything if she would just notice him some more. It was unreal how much meaning everyone managed to get into _the look_ , and Quistis should know, somehow a lot of people felt the need to torture her with it. After she broke up with Zell, she had tried to distance herself, get him some time to get over her, and later on to escape _the look._ She sighed, smiled, discreetly looked at the clock to determine how much time was left of her break and hoped that it would end quickly.

 

Some more mindless chatter followed, now with some more or less hilarious teaching stories from Zell that Quistis really didn’t want to hear. It wasn’t making her feel bad, she hadn´t been a teacher for eight years now anyway, she was over it. And that was probably the problem, it was _so_ boring. She played with her rice, barely paying attention, until Selphie felt the need to change the subject.

 

“Oh, Quistis met Seifer!”

 

Quistis´ head snapped up, exasperated. Selphie looked way too smug. She had a bad feeling about it.

 

“Really? Did you meet him on his way to an AA meeting? Is he living off welfare? A shame some people got hit so hard by the war…”

 

Quistis raised her eyebrow, wondering if they all just were horrible people… “No, he isn´t addicted to anything.”

 

“He´s an item hunter”, said Selphie.

 

Zell was clearly disappointed but tried to hide it. “Ah. Good for him. I guess. Were you buying something? Does he have some rare items?”

 

“Actually she slept with him”, Selphie felt the need to interrupt again.

 

Quistis eyes widened and she looked at Selphie for a few seconds completely baffled that she had actually said that. She had no idea what she had done to deserve it, though she wouldn´t let it slide. Friends or not, Selphie would get a piece of her mind later! _Now_ she had to do damage control. Zell looked like someone had told him his dog died. She didn’t own him an apology, but… maybe she did. It had been Seifer of all people.

 

“Once and just because we were fighting monsters all day and I felt like it. That was all.”

 

“If you say so.” Selphie gave her a level look, slowly eating a few of her noodles.

 

“I guess everyone moved on. Even Seifer,” said Zell.

 

Selphie snorted and decidedly didn’t look at Quistis.

 

“Selphie, he has been freed of all charges! You cannot blame someone for something he couldn´t control!” She didn’t know how or why, but now she felt the need to defend him. It was ridiculous!

 

“Right, because everything was completely involuntary!” Her smile was gone. Quistis braced herself quietly for a discussion she really didn´t want to have during her lunch break.

 

“Rinoa vouched for him.”

 

“Rinoa wanted to save herself! And you know that! I voted against freeing him. You can fuck who you want, but don´t expect everyone to forget everything just because you decide it´s fine now!”

 

“I… I didn´t do any of that!”

 

“So you two met Squall and Rinoa lately? We phone from time to time, buy you know Squall, right, doesn´t talk much!” Zell laughed a bit nervously, eyeing the two women and probably hoping they wouldn´t jump on him. Selphie leaned back, her face still mad which was more frightening than anything else. “I have. Met the kids. Squall is still occasionally in the field, killing some monsters together with the perimeter guards.”

 

“He didn´t run away because he hated fighting so much…” Quistis didn´t even look up. She didn´t want to see the accusatory stares.

 

“I guess deciding that a career choice isn´t for you is better done by other people, right, Quistis?”

 

“Did you go with him? Hunting, I mean?” Quistis had to admire Zell´s futile attempts to diffuse the situation. She was already done with it. Selphie obviously had decided that Quistis was a villain now and if that´s how it should go… they had never been the closest friends. A lot changed in eight years. If she continued hanging with Xu, Quistis could tolerate her, if that should ever happen. But Quistis started to hope that it absolutely wouldn´t.

 

“Yeah, he´s still good, though not as strong. Got a GF from somewhere, but his magic wasn´t all that great.” She shrugged.

 

“Guess Rinoa isn´t a magic dispenser after all”, said Quistis.

 

“Could you two just stop it? If you have to keep fighting I´ll eat somewhere else”, Zell snapped at them.

 

Quistis raised her eyebrows but didn´t say anything. Selphie decidedly stared at a far wall, her jaw working. Maybe it was Zell´s turn now.

 

“I´m just a little tense about the whole subject.”

 

“You don´t say…” Quistis huffed, still looking at the table.

 

“Quistis… You don´t ha…”, Zell started, but was interrupted immediately by Selphie.

 

“There was an incident a few months ago.”

 

Zell stared at her, startled. “What? What happened?”

 

Selphie sighed, playing with her fork for a while. “A woman came to me and told me she was my mother. Said she had worked as a prostitute in southern Trabia, trying her best to give me a good life while working a… suboptimal job until she was called out by someone, I don´t know, and I was taken away by police apparently. She told me they broke her nose when she wouldn´t let me go and that they never told her where they brought me. And then most of us got enlisted in Garden anyway, I had a different name… Guess who founded Garden. Guess who had information but didn´t hand it out.”

 

Selphie stopped for a second, looking expectantly at them. Zell finally said something. “How did she find you?”

 

“Recognized me when I was in the news. She tried to contact me, it took her a while since I was famous and all that.”

 

“Selphie, she could be anyone!” Wouldn´t be the first impostor, Quistis had had a few of them.

 

“I know, that´s why I wanted a DNA test. She wasn´t lying. Someone else was.”

 

“Maybe Matron didn´t know. You can´t blame her for that! She created Garden to make sure everyone is safe when Ultimecia would finally rise and I mean, I wasn’t enlisted, I joined on my own!” There was a distinct red that spread all over Zell´s face, a bit blotchy around his cheeks, bright on his ears. It was fascinating.

 

“Honestly Zell, I don´t care. Maybe she did everything right. Maybe everything could be worse. Or maybe I just want to be angry how everything went and I am especially angry that after knowing that, one of my friends decides to want a friendship or whatever with one of the WORST PEOPLE…”

 

“Oh just stop it!” Quistis got up, shoving her chair back so hard it almost toppled over. “That had nothing to do with you, I didn´t even know you would be here. If you need to sort out your feelings, than do that, but without shitting on me in the meantime!”

 

She noticed how Zell hesitated if he should follow her or stay with Selphie. He stayed. Spineless little prick.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I announced that I wouldn´t post anything this month, but I had to write this scene and it is relatively long, so take an additional short chapter until next month. If you wanna argue about my characterization, feel free to do so. Though I have to say that you can´t be always happy and that people change over time, especially when a lot of things happen that would be hard to stomach. Resentment is the first step to acceptance! Okay, enough of that, hope you had fun and till next time!


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